Move and win roundup: Week of January 6, 2020

Isobar China Group appointed Milan Chiang as chief commerce officer in addition to her role as CEO of VeryStar-Linked by Isobar. The appointment fills the opening left by Alvin Huang's departure to Leo Digital Network as chief growth officer earlier this week. As CCO, Chiang will integrate Isobar’s commerce business and service offering and develop a future-forward commerce strategy, the agency said. Based in Shanghai, Chiang will report to Tammy Sheu, CEO of Isobar China Group. Chiang established VeryStar in 2011 and has been serving CEO ever since. She was named one of Campaign's Women to Watch in 2018. 

Interpublic experience agency Huge appointed Ben Skelsey as group vice president, effective Monday (January13) and reporting to Martin Riley, MD of Huge APAC. Skelsey will be responsible for leading the agency’s SK-II account globally. He joins from Ogilvy in the UK, where he spent over a year as managing partner, serving as a business lead for the agency (and parent company WPP) on WalgreensBootsAlliance (WBA). Prior to Ogilvy he worked at OgilvyOne Worldwide as an international business director on the global American Express account. 

Wunderman Thompson appointed Noel Yuen to lead the HSBC business in Hong Kong. Yuen joins from Uth Creative Group, where she pitched for and won the AIA, MTR, AlipayHK and CLP accounts in addition to running the CSL, Dove, Optical 88 and Mannings accounts. Prior to that, she was a business director at DDB leading the McDonald’s account. She will lead the team to deliver work across HSBC’s Retail Banking business, and will report to Matthew Parry, Hong Kong MD. 

Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has added four directors to its Singapore operation, reporting to Singapore MD Matthew Briant, who assumed his role in September 2019:

• Yiting Foo joins as corporate and financial practice director. Prior to this, she spent time in Myanmar where she set up and led the corporate communications team for infrastructure giant, Asia World Company. She’s also had over 18 years of experience from Edelman and investor relations agencies.
• Meanwhile, Sherawaye Hagger will head the consumer practice division. Hagger, having just moved from London, previously led the luxury and prestige offering for FleishmanHillard. At H+K, she will work on WPP integrated offerings.
• Selena Sheikh joins as technology practice director. With just under two decades of experience with multinationals and in global agencies, Sheikh specialises in B2B and emerging technology as well as science.
• Additionally, Jocelyn Ko joins as associate director to lead B2B and strategic communications. Ko has nine years of experience from a mix of WPP and boutique agencies, and will support the technology team as well as drive H+K’s B2B offering.

WPP has hired Adrianne Smith as its first global director of inclusion and diversity. Smith is the founder of Cannes Can: Diversity Collective, an organisation dedicated to bringing young people of color to Cannes Lions. In her role, Smith will support and partner with Judy Jackson, who was named WPP’s global head of culture last year.

iQiyi appointed Kelvin Yau as vice president of the international business department and general manager of iQiyi Thailand. He was previously SVP and GM of Greater China at BBC Studios since 2015. Prior to that he also held roles at The Economist Group and Euromoney Publications. iQiyi launched a global expansion in November 2019 through its local in-house team as well as joint operation with local partners. It also has a strategic partnership with Astro in Malaysia. The iQiyi app provides content and search functions in Chinese, English, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, Vietnamese and others.

Public relations firm Critical Path has appointed Debora Noviyanti to a newly-created role as director of Southeast Asia and International. Noviyanti will divide her time between the US and Southeast Asia, focusing on West Coast-based tech firms and startups with the aim of supporting their business opportunities in Southeast Asia. Noviyanti was previously was external communications lead at Microsoft in Indonesia but will now relocate to the US.  She has worked at other technology and communications firms, including IBM, Zeno Stratcom, APCO Worldwide, and Cohn & Wolfe. 

Digital marketing blockchain technology firm Aqilliz has appointed ex-Coty regional sales director for Southeast Asia Venkatesh Babu as chief revenue officer (CRO), responsible for all go-to-market initiatives across APAC effective January 1st. Babu's FMCG career spans almost 25 years with roles focused around beauty, personal care and fragrance portfolios at Coty and Procter and Gamble (P&G). 

Private equity firm LC Capital has appointed Jeffrey Tay to a new growth and communications role as VP of Lifestyle and Investor Relations, effective today. In addition to leading IR functions, Tay is also responsible for identifying growth opportunities of luxury property developer Infinity Capital Group. Tay was previously head of corporate partnerships for Hong Kong and North Asia at The Entertainer.